Dijan iya Moli.
This is Molly.
Im beibiwan bigibigi.
She’s a piglet.
Main
braja bin faindim Moli jeya la bush.
My brother found Molly out in the bush.
Imin jidan misalp –maidi imin git los ...
She was all by herself –perhaps she’d got lost
...
Main
braja imin pikimap ...
My brother picked her up ...
en teigimbek la kemp.
and brought her back home.
dog bin beldimbat im wen imin lilwan.
The dogs picked on her when she was little.
Ola
BAT imin laigim dagat Wit-Bik.
BUT she liked eating Weet-Bix.
En imin gro ...
And she grew ...
En imin gro ... And
she grew
...
En imin gro ...
And she grew ...
En tudei na, im bigiswan bigibigi na!
And today, she is the biggest pig!
Im
mo
big
den
dem
dog. She is bigger than those dogs.
Main neim Karen Manbulloo. Ai bin kam jidan la Binjari 1999 gada main fes beibi. Mela bin kaman iya from Rokhol. En den ai bin aba natha thribala biginini. Wi bin sidan iya fo longtaim na. Ol main bigininimob bigwan na en gadim oun biginini na. Ai laigim gu fishing, hanting, kempinat en shoping. Ai rili laigim sidanbat gada main femlimob ba toktok stori, tokabat ba oldendeis stori, en ba wen ai bin lilgel. Ai nomo laigim jidan nathapleis, ai gada stap la Binjari olagijawan.
My name is Karen Manbulloo. I came to live in Binjari in 1999 with my first son. We came here from Rockhole Community. Now I have another three kids. We’ve all lived here since then. All my kids are now adults and have kids of their own. I like to go fishing, hunting, camping and shopping. I love being surrounded by my kids and my family. We come together to tell stories and talk about the olden days and what life was like when I was little. I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else but Binjari.
About Binjari
Binjari is a lovely, small Aboriginal community, which is home to about 200 Aboriginal people who mostly speak Kriol. Binjari is located near the Katherine River, about twenty kilometres to the west of the Katherine township in the Northern Territory. It is at the edge of Manbulloo Station, where generations of Aboriginal people worked, including the forebears of many present-day residents. Aboriginal people have developed Binjari as a quiet, safe place for families away from town. In addition to the original Bottom Camp, Binjari has the newer Top Camp area, where most people now live. It has its own office and clinic, and schools and shops are available in nearby Katherine.
Acknowledgements
A very special thank you to the Manbulloo family at Kalano for their support for writing this story about Molly.
The Indigenous Literacy Foundation (ILF) would particularly like to thank Denise Angelo, linguist/literacy consultant from the Australian National University, and Julie Haysom, illustrator, who worked with the Binjari Buk mob to write and illustrate their stories; and The DigiDirect Foundation for its support in publishing this edition of Moli det Bigibigi.
The ILF would also like to thank the Sanitarium Health and Wellbeing Company for permission to use the illustration of the Weet-Bix packet on page 10.
For supporting the Binjari Buk mob training project, thanks go to Roper Gulf Regional Council, Binjari Community Aboriginal Corporation and the Living Archive of Aboriginal Languages (LAAL).
For supporting Denise Angelo’s ongoing research into Kriol, thanks go to the Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language (CoEDL), the Australian National University and the Australian Government Research Training Program.
About the Indigenous Literacy Foundation
The Indigenous Literacy Foundation (ILF) is a national charity working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander remote Communities across Australia. We are Communityled, responding to requests from remote Communities for culturally relevant books, including early learning board books, resources, and programs to support Communities to create and publish their stories in languages of their choice.
In 2024 the ILF won the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, given annually to a person or organisation for their outstanding contribution to children’s or young adult literature.
First published in 2017 by the Indigenous Literacy Foundation
This board book edition published in 2025
Gadigal Country
17/207 Kent Street, Sydney NSW 2000
ilf.org.au
Text copyright © Karen Manbulloo, 2017
Illustrations copyright © Binjari Buk mob, 2017
Members of the Binjari Buk mob 2017: Sylvia Birdum, Bernadine Booth, Daniella Carlton, Tasiana Douglas, Marilyn Frith, Rozelle Frith, Halrisha Hodgson, Maureen Hodgson, Sarah Lewis, Karen Manbulloo, Sylvia Maroney, Milly Raymond, Stella Raymond, Natasha Waterloo
Binjari Buk helpers from other years: Christine Anzac, Susan Blutcher, Saffron Booth, Aganita Charlie, Tanya Gallagher, Vivianne Morgan, Noriandra Patrick, Maxine Raymond, Cinetta Ru-unga, Zelda Wurramara
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted by any person or entity (including Google, Amazon or similar organisations) in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, scanning or by any information storage and retrieval system without prior permission in writing from the publisher.
Cataloguing-in-Publication details are available from the National Library of Australia www.trove.nla.gov.au
ISBN 9781923456891
Design by Hazel Lam and Steven Dunbar
Printed in China by RR Donnelley Asia Printing Solutions Limited
